CIBC Global Securities Unit
Stumbles Abroad; Shifts Focus

TORONTO -- Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce put its hopes in a division called World Markets. What it got back was some world-class headaches.

CIBC thought tapping into global securities markets would be the perfect way to speed its growth. In the past few years, the bank eagerly bought brokerage houses in Britain and Australia and a high-yield debt boutique in the U.S. It also spent millions to build a derivatives operation in New...